Ever since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, we've seen a rise in anti-semitism, including in the United States, and especially on college campuses. Earlier this week, though, Harvard University announced that it was setting up a task force to protect students who signed onto a statement blaming Israel for the attack.
Townhall has put together a list naming some of those student leaders. And, as our friends at Twitchy have been covering, there's also a doxxing truck from AccuracyInMedia's Adam Guillette identifying student leaders and showing up at their residences. Business firms have been asking for a list of these student names, too, so they know not to hire them.
So many on the left complained about cancel culture in this instance, and the university officially looks to be giving in to such lamentations with this task task force.
"Harvard Creates Task Force for Doxxed Students Amid Backlash Over Israel Statement," read a recent headline from the Harvard Crimson. The content of the article reads like something out of the Babylon Bee. It makes zero reference to the October 7 attack, or the atrocities that occurred. There's also no mention of how Jewish students have suffered, including on Harvard's own campus.
The only mention of pretty much anything other than how the university is bending over backward to assist such students is in the opening paragraph, the only time "Israel" and "Hamas" are mentioned, let alone supported or condemned. "Harvard will establish a task force to support students experiencing doxxing, harassment, and online security issues following backlash against students allegedly affiliated with a statement that held Israel “entirely responsible” for violence in the Israel-Hamas conflict," the article began.
The more details provided about the task force, the more it becomes clear what the university's priorities are. Note how there's mention of a "repugnant assault on our community," but that it's on students having to own up to the consequences of their own actions, with zero mention of the anti-semitism that Jews have faced:
The new task force will be in operation until Nov. 3, at which point the task force will reassess its efforts to ensure that its work meets student needs, according to an email obtained by The Crimson. The message, dated Tuesday, was sent to doxxed students by Dean of Students Thomas Dunne.
“We are truly grateful for all the tremendous work that students have put forth in supporting each other through this most difficult time, and we appreciate the collaborative spirit in which students, faculty, and staff have come together to repel this repugnant assault on our community,” Dunne wrote.
Aside from serving as a single point of contact, the task force will communicate proactively with students to share available resources, ensure the coordination of services, hear student concerns and suggestions, and communicate with residential staff and other College administrators.
The article does go on to give more background information, but so as to defend the offending students in a way when it comes to their statement. Emphasis is mine:
The formation of the task force comes more than two weeks after more than 30 student organizations drew national backlash for signing onto the controversial statement, which was penned by the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee.
“Today’s events did not occur in a vacuum,” the PSC’s statement reads. “For the last two decades, millions of Palestinians in Gaza have been forced to live in an open-air prison. Israeli officials promise to ‘open the gates of hell,’ and the massacres in Gaza have already commenced.”
In the weeks that followed, students have faced doxxing attacks on websites, social media, and a billboard truck displaying group members’ names and faces and describing them as “Harvard’s Leading Antisemites.”
Even as the PSC moved to state that the group “staunchly opposes” violence against all civilians, at least 10 student groups have since withdrawn their endorsements from the statement.
While the statement claims the student group "staunchly opposes" violence, the Harvard Crimson left out most of the actual statement signed onto, with the article linking to a previous article from the Harvard Crimson that mentioned an Insgtram post from the Palestine Solidarity Committee that other student groups signed onto. That statement began that they "hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence." An update in the comments of their Instagram post noted in part that the students "emphasize the role of Israeli colonial occupation in creating these conditions of violence."
What that statement and this Harvard Crimson article don't mention is that the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, which left Americans killed and held hostage as well, resulted in the death of 1,400 Israelis. It was the bloodiest day in the country's history, seeing the most Jews killed since the Holocaust.
Hamas terrorists didn't just murder civilians, but tortured, raped, and kidnapped people. Women, children, and the elderly were among those targeted, including babies. Less than a week after that attack, the official Israel X account also released images of babies that had been beheaded and burned alive, as Townhall covered at the time.
As an article from The New York Sun put it "Harvard Task Force To Protect Anti-Israel Students Raises a Question: Where Is the Task Force Against Antisemitism?" Unlike the Harvard Crimson article, which lacked mention of Jewish voices reacting to the task force, this piece includes it:
As anti-Israel sentiment rises at universities across the nation, Harvard’s pledge to protect its students appears to be selective. “I’m alarmed at the lack of a task force on antisemitism,” a Harvard student, Alex Bernat, who serves on the board of a center for Jewish life on campus, Harvard Chabad, tells the Sun.
Attempts by students “to either dismiss, redefine, or perpetuate antisemitism, using this conflict as cover, demonstrate a clear need for Harvard to establish a parallel task force on addressing deep-rooted lack of care or lack of education amongst the community here,” Mr. Bernat says, “not to mention Harvard’s institutional history of antisemitism and anti-Jewish discrimination.”
When it comes to the Harvard Crimson piece, what's also noteworthy is that not only is Harvard helping students who put together such statements, but also is actively getting involved to protect them from doxxing. Emphasis is mine:
The University had begun providing doxxed students with resources prior to the creation of a formal task force. An HUIT document dated Oct. 20 provides guidance on requesting for false statements, online harassment, and personal information to be taken down. The guide also advises those doxxed to consider disabling social media accounts and to block, mute, or ignore attackers.
HUIT also allows Harvard affiliates to report online security incidents through its website.
Students earlier this month also circulated a guide for those experiencing doxxing and harassment in collaboration with conversations with Harvard administrators. The document offers additional guidance on interacting with the media and changing online visibility settings.
According to the document, Harvard’s career services center is also “reaching out to employers independently to vouch for students and to discredit the doxxed profiles.”
Harvard students, alumni, and faculty have called on University President Claudine Gay to condemn doxxing and provide greater support for affected students since online backlash began earlier this month.
The piece closes with a celebration of free speech from Harvard President Claudine Gray in a video from October 12. "Our University embraces a commitment to free expression," Gray had said in the video. "That commitment extends even to views that many of us find objectionable, even outrageous. We do not punish or sanction people for expressing such views."
Free speech does not mean freedom from consequences for that speech, as is what's happening to these students.
Included in that New York Sun article are comments from Law Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz:
On Harvard’s campus today, though, Mr. Dershowitz argues that student groups must disclose their members’ names as a principle of the First Amendment. Universities exist to foster marketplaces of ideas, he says, which means both the doxxed and the doxxers must prepare to stand by their statements.
“I will publicly disclose the name of any person that I can find out signed the statement blaming these massacres on Israel,” Mr. Dershowitz says, “and urge potential employers to ask themselves whether they want racists and bigots to be representing their clients.” Business titans like Bill Ackman, who have threatened to not hire such students, would certainly appreciate this plea.
While the New York Sun mentions "[b]usiness titans like Bill Ackman," the StopAntisemitism X account has highlighted examples of billionaire donors pulling their funding from Harvard in response to the university's respons--or lack thereoff--so far.
Other notable figures are also cutting ties with Harvard. As Townhall covered earlier this week, former Gov. Larry Hogan (R-MD) will not participate in fellowships over the university's response.
Harvard and UPenn President MUST step down - they are failures as administrators and are now costing their school endowments hundreds of millions of dollars.
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) October 17, 2023
We applaud this group of donors and call on EVERY alumni and current student/parent of - Jewish or not - stop ALL… pic.twitter.com/wJe8axOqW7